Conflicting aircraft showing behind when in front

[jgmusic]

I received an alert this weekend on my Sky Demon showing an aircraft that was indicating close proximity behind me, when in fact it was in front of me. The warning message read '5 o'clock behind' when the aircraft suddenly emerged visual at 2 o'clock ahead.

Any explanation for this? Is my setup seeing everything in reverse?

Very perplexing.

[Deker]

It could have been that there was an aircraft behind that you received a correct warning for.
Also there was another aircraft in front that was not transmitting which you visually acquired?

Have you bearing-less mode CS enabled?

Deker.

[exfirepro]

Hi jg,

What type of alert was this? PilotAware does NOT give false alerts or false aircraft bearings. If PilotAware showed a target in your 5 o'clock, there was almost certainly one there somewhere (* see below) - unless there is something VERY strange going on with either your or the other aircraft's setup.

If you are talking about a PilotAware Alert (as opposed to a SkyDemon Banner Alert - which takes the form of Yellow writing on a Black Banner Background) these only come in two forms:

'Known Position' aircraft are shown on screen as moving objects and the associated PilotAware audio alerts are only given at specific distances and relative altitudes in the form - 'Traffic - Bearing - Distance ('X' Kilometers) - 'Relative Altitude' / 'Above/Below' OR 'Level.

'Bearingless' aircraft (Mode C/S) are displayed on screen (with SkyDemon) as a sequence of Green/Amber/Red coloured rings around your own aircraft position to denote perceived level of risk, accompanied by a graphic, normally in your 12 o'clock position on the circumference of the ring - though this can vary - showing the aircraft's relative altitude and in the case of Mode S aircraft, the aircraft ID. It is important to note that the position of this information on the ring does NOT indicate the bearing of the aircraft. The associated audio alert takes the form - 'Traffic' - 'Notice/Alert/Danger' - 'Relative Altitude'/ 'Above/Below' OR 'Level'. Bearingless targets by their very nature don't give a 'bearing' as part of either a visual or audio alert.

So as you can see from the above, PilotAware couldn't possibly say 'Traffic - '5 o'clock - behind' - there is no such message.

* Bearingless target audio alerts can report altitude as simply 'ABOVE' or 'BELOW' if the aircraft is significantly above or below you, though these alerts are relatively infrequent and would take the form such as  'Traffic' - 'Alert' - 'Above' or 'Below' - Note that there is NO Bearing!! In my experience, this form of alert usually indicates a high power Mode S equipped CAT aircraft, which due to the significantly higher transmit power (up to 500watts as opposed to c.70-150 watts for GA) activates alerts at relatively longer range - and is therefore not always immediately visible.

IMO the aircraft you SAW was certainly NOT the one which caused the alert.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards

Peter